Airdate: Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission

On Wednesday SBS ONE begins a 2-part series om which actor Ewan McGregor travels with UNICEF workers through remote regions in Nepal, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlighting their work in life-saving immunisation programs.

Acclaimed actor Ewan McGregor is on a mission to the ends of the earth to immunise some of the hardest-to-reach children in the world.

Ewan and his team must deliver the vaccines to the world’s most remote children as health workers do every day. But their fragile nature means the vaccines must be kept constantly cold as they are passed along the supply chain, from freezer to freezer – wherever that may be.

The routes these vaccines travel are known as cold chains, and a vast network of them exists across the globe. Supported by Unicef, Ewan follows three of the world’s toughest cold chains.

Episode One: India and Nepal Ewan, who has been a Unicef ambassador for eight years, follows a route that takes him through India. In a country with a booming population, often on the move, the cold chain is a race against time to stop polio before it can enter the country and spread.

From India, Ewan continues his journey into the isolated wilderness of Nepal. He must endure a gruelling two-day trek to reach a tiny community secluded high in the Himalayas, but not before attempting to land at one of the world’s most dangerous airstrips.